michael jackson died

I wanted to call this "End of an Era", or "Death of a Legend" or something equally dramatic as is befitting the death of Michael Jackson.

Dad came in and told me an hour ago that MJ was dead. I didn't believe it and on some level I still don't. Apparently his Peter Pan complex had me and the rest of the world believing that he would always exist. News currently reports that he died from a cardiac arrest; he was in a coma on arrival to the hospital and died soon afterwards.

TMZ had the story hours before other more reputable news outlets. A source I would usually dismiss. The internet is fabulous though, within minutes my facebook wall was full of shocked, disbelieving messages. Even my own messages follow a pattern of shock "is it true? MJ?", disbelief "someone needs to show me some proof", and finally acceptance "RIP MJ,".

The world has lost a great artist tonight. Unfortunately he was unable to stay relevent and change as the world around him changed, but it is a testiment to the quality of his early music that we are still fans.

I guess his legal troubles should be mentioned. A grown man sharing a bed (and whatever else occured) with young boys is wrong. And with all the people surrounding MJ, and the awareness of his slightly "off the wall" mental state, this should not have been allowed to happen TWICE. But I also believe that if I was a parent and Michael had alledgedly fiddled with my kids, no amount of money would shut me up - I would want him to be tried, jailed and then repeatedly troubled by a tattoed guy named Butch. I also wouldn't send my child to "sleepovers" at a grown man's house who has no kids! Someone's story didn't add up. I guess we'll never know whose. But as I sit here listening to Billie Jean I'm reminiscing through the rose tinted specs of hindsight that obliterate the negativity.

I just bought a couple things from Amazon, the Moonwalker DVD which I've been looking for for ages, and a Motown MJ 3 disc album. I want them before the mad memoribilia rush begins.

Also I'm feeling a little guilty. Because my second thought (after ...tragic death of a legend...) was, are my concert tickets going to be refunded? Cold? Possibly. But I especially feel for all the people who bough concert tickets at wildly elevated prices. I wonder if there is a refund procedure for that? Also feeling guilty for the fleeting thoughts wondering if this was a life insurance scam - news of his brokeness is commonplace. But I hope I'm not that cynical.

Watching the news now I'm seeing people crying and fainting on footage of past Michael Jackson concerts. I remember those days! When seeing Michael was an EVENT on a grand scale. I saw his Dangerous tour in the UK. I was blessed, lucky enough to see his talent live and unadulterated. I remember going into school the next day head held high; I'd seen Michael Jackson! For a couple days (which included a show and tell) my news was the hottest thing!

This self taught (people forget he was SELF TAUGHT) man, BLACK MAN (yeah we claim him in death) will never be bested. No one currently even comes close. All those pretenders to the throne, the omarian's, chris browns, neyos and ushers need to show respect to the origin of all of their styles.

RIP Michael, I hope you find the peace in death that you so desperately craved in life.


michael in all his crotch grabbing, moonwalking, crowd pleasing glory



**************edit: Is this one of those deaths for which we are all slightly to blame? Our obsession with celebrity has reached fever pitch.

What causes a physically active, non-smoking man suddenly present to hospital in full cardiac arrest? There are many theories, but I'm postulating stress.

50 show dates, that apparently he didn't agree to, he only knew about 10, a legal fight on his hands (again!), brokeness, and constant media intrusion into his life from the age of 5, just typing it sounds stressful. Still a lil shell shocked - there may be more updates forthcoming...******************

today i...

...extracted 2 wisdom teeth from 2 different patients in 2 hours - funking fabulous!



...spoke to my northern friend, who forgets me on occasion but is loved nonetheless



...finished off the vegan blackforest gateau i made for Father's day
(vegan does NOT mean tasteless - it was full of chocolately/ cherry goodness)



....screened my calls - I'm refusing to let that nokia rule my life. Leave a message, I'll get back to you, maybe



...made plans to see terminator 4 (finally), last big blockbuster of the summer (i think), will it enter my top 3 of 2009?

robots in disguise!

Saw Transformers II last night - screen 11 at the o2 (naturally).

And it was....

....alright.



HERE BE minor SPOILERS....continue at your peril....





The jokes were predictable, the human side of the story line was predictable. The Twinz irritated me - and the next person who calls them the "black ones" will get decked because last time I checked robots are melanin deficient and do not originate from Africa. Robots chatting like bloody Tim Westwood. It's Jar Jar Binks all over again!

The screen was beautiful though - I think the term Visual Candy is totally appropriate here, everything just looked goooooooooooooooood! The sexy camaro that is Bumblebee would still have looked better with me in it (i wish). Guys have Megan Fox for their eye candy. She looks more sexy than filthy in this film which is great, because recently shes been looking a bit Try-sexual. Shia LeBoeuf, great name and cute, but the ladies also have Tyrese (a black guy who's every line contains "ass" or "shit" - how original) and Captain Lennox *drool*.

Some free newspaper reviewers were complaining that they were unable to tell the Autobots and Decepticons apart during the fight scenes. To them I say "should've gone to Specsavers". It's really not difficult,

bright coloured = good

gun metal grey = bad

I guess the problem was that I was bored. I didn't care about the Fallen. Megatron seemed like a bit of a chump compared to the Fallen. The robots just seemed like they'd been tacked onto a storyline about a guy going off to college and trying to avoid saying the L word before his girlfriend does.

And I didn't care!!

Last night the o2 also dropped a little in my estimation, as did my company. Renovations to Car Park 4 and 3 events occurring at once meant the car parking nearby was full and I had to park some ridiculous distance away.

*unimpressed*

Film finished after 11.30 (it was 2.5 hours long!!), it was dark, it was a lil chilly, roads were empty. Am I wrong to expect to be walked to my car? Maybe I've been spoilt in the past but I expect friends,by virtue 2 being safer than 1, to show at least a passing concern for my safety after I've been out with them. Ah well I'm still in one piece and none the worse for wear - no harm, no foul I guess. I'm pretty sure that it won't happen again though.

what loves company?

Never really been much for the negative emotions - best ignored and avoided.

But tonight, I felt what I have lost, intensely.

Just dull pressure in my chest and an ache in my throat

Who knew that the car would be the best place for contemplation (in lieu of a vast expanse of nature).

the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the...

After work today I drove down to Mitcham. My brakes were giving me trouble all the way to Coventry and back and apparently breakdown cover does not cover faulty brakes. If I had died on the side of the M1 my family would have been due a hefty pay out from that gem-like female only car insurer.

ANYWAY

So the plan was to go to my Uncle's house, follow him to the mechanics and then for him to drive me home (the luxury of family). The plan succeeded. The car is now waiting outside the mechanics waiting for D to work his magic.

Luckily for you this isn't the interesting part of the story.

During the drive home me and my uncle got into a debate about the nature of truth.

Is truth absolute or conditional?

Isn't it weird that the questions that have been debated for many hundreds of years always seem to have obvious answers, until you debate them with someone with an opposing point of view?

I think truth is conditional. I think that what is true for one, will not necessarily be true for all. I think that what is true in one place or time, may not be true for another. I can't think of something that is absolutely true for all things/ people/ time etc

But I actually want to think this out and do it justice - so I'll be back after some good book based research (or google)

current thoughts

• Arnie's bum in terminator 1 is a thing of beauty. Sculpted and firm. Yum!

• My new sexy flatscreen is deceptive - it makes films look better than they are.

• I have a list of uni stuff to do and no time to do it in.

Welcome to a lil slice of my world....

twenty-four years and 3 days

This print is called "Celebration" by Keith Mallett and can be purchased here

I had such a lovely birthday weekend.

Friday...

Started off at friday lunch when I was greeted at uni by my lab partner holding my card in one hand and a handmade banana cake in the other - she knows that good cake is my red kryptonite. She apologised that it wasn't a giant lemon slice - but apparently that's in production for next year.

*excitement*

We'd come in early for our afternoon session and sat in the student union celebrating my birth. Eventually we went to the afternoon sesh which was Oral Surgery with my nemesis/ tutor. He looks like Hey Arnold's Indian twin brother, and has an infuriatingly passive smile and a voice which makes me want to garrote him. Luckily for me, I got to avoid him all session while treating a patient with trismus and lingual nerve parasthesia after wisdom tooth removal - basically her tongue was numb and she could hardly open her mouth without pain. (And by treating, I mean reassuring her that it will go away in a few weeks because there is absolutely f*** all we could do for her).

After uni was a mad dash home to eat, wash and prettify myself before being chauffeured to the o2 (mum was feeling generous) to meet the girls. The indigO2 was hosting boyzIImen that night and my darling friend had bought me tickets as a present. The tickets said BoyzIImen plus special guests and we had spent weeks trying to work out who was in town and who would perform well with the boyz. Our guesses ranged from Beyonce (unlikely in hindsight) to Britney (lol - can you imagine?). The reality was an opening act who looked like Dave Chappelle and sang like a cruise line entertainer.

*epic fail*

Maybe he was just there to make the Boyz look better - but he was absolutely unnecessary! We were late so we missed most of his set, and settled in to watch the Boyz with a malibu and cranberry in my hand and flanked by the girls on either side.

The boyz still have it!




Can you imagine? After almost 20 years they still have it. The lights glistened off the Dax in their texturised hair. The 3 piece suits were SHARP! The dance moves perfectly evoked the feel of the groups of the 90's. In the background they played their music videos showing more 90's dance moves, and women wearing clothes *woah* and when they were in swimwear there wasn't a bootyshaking, ass clapping, p**** popping one among them. But I digress...

The harmonies were TIGHT! But that was to be expected. Unfortunately the 4th member of the group left. He was the one with the BASS in his voice (I know you know who I mean) and his voice was definitely missed, especially in A Song for Mama and End of the Road. Hopefully he'll be back, rumor has it that he's suffering from a debilitating illness, so prayers for effective management and a speedy recovery.

The Boyz should have spent more time on stage - their back catalogue is huge and so many songs were missed out but it looked they ran over their time since after the encore the backstage staff plucked the mics from their hands and raised the house lights. Boo to them.


Saturday...

• Woke up early to drive to the East Midlands....
• Jacked up my car AGAIN!
• Had a faboosh time

details forthcoming...